Liquid spraying apparatus and system for cleaning the same



Aug. 31, 1965 A. E. BROUGHTON 3,203,630

LIQUID SPRAYING APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR CLEANING THE SAME Original Filed June 8, 1960 INVENTOR. ARTHUR E BROUGHTON BY ATTORNEY United States Patent M 3303 639 LEQUED SPRAWIG APPARATUE} AND SYSTEll/i FOR QLEANING THE SAME Arthur E. Bronghton, Glens Falls, N.Y., assignor to A. E. Broughton 81 'Co., Inca, a corporation of New York Continuation of application Ser. No. 34,714, lune 8, 1969. This application June 6, 1963, filer. No. 288,859 4 Claims. (Cl. 239-116) This invention relates generally to liquid spraying apparatus and more particularly to a white water shower for the paper making industry with an improved system for cleaning the same to maintain said apparatus in cilicient constantly operative condition. This application is a continuation of application Serial No. 34,714, filed June 8, 1960, now abandoned and discloses and claims only subject matter disclosed therein.

While the apparatus and system disclosed and claimed in my prior US Pat. No. 2,829,005 and Pat. No. 2,884,- 203 has worked satisfactorily, the present invention which is related to the general subject matter of said prior U.S. patents provides greatly improved results.

It is an object of the present invention to provide liquid spraying apparatus with improved system and mechanism for maintaining the same in a constantly clean efiiciently operative condition.

It is another object to provide a cleaning system particularly designed for use with white water showers to permit periodic cleaning of the nozzles in the shower tube to constantly maintain the same in an efficiently o erative condition.

More specifically, it is another object to provide a relatively compact valve mechanism to facilitate changing the direction of flow of liquid into the shower tube in order to produce reciprocation of the cleaning plunger Working therein.

It is another object to provide a timer controlled mechanism to automatically produce periodic cleaning of the shower tube.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a central longitudinal vertical sectional view of my new assembly with portions thereof shown in elevation;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the assembly shown in FIG. 1;

PEG. 3 is an end elevational view thereof; and,

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the timer and solenoid control valve assembly.

As best shown in FIG. 1, I provide a shower tube 19 securely anchored in sealed relation at its ends to a pair of mounting castings 11 and 12 as by the connecting flanges 13. The mounting casting 11 has an inside diameter which is the same as the inside diameter of the tube It) and receives the adjacent end portion of the tube It) in a peripheral recess as illustrated to provide a smooth uniform interior wall surface which extends to the outer end of the casting 11 to which a closure cap 14 is sealingly connected as shown. The interior wall 12a of the mounting 12 also defines a cylindrical chamber which is the same inside diameter as the tube 1t? and forms a uniform continuation thereof as illustrated. A plurality of peripherally spaced ports 12b are provided through the interior wall of the casting l2 and communicate with an annular passage 12c which surrounds said interior wall 12a. An outer wall 12d surrounds the annular passage 12c as shown.

An inlet connection 15 is adapted to be connected to a supply conduit (not shown) and communicates through dihdfidh Patented Aug. 31, less a valve port 16 with annular chamber 12c. A second valve port 17 also communicates with the inlet and controls communication with one end of by-pass conduit 18 as illustrated. The by-pass conduit 18 is connected by elbow id at its other end to a port 11a provided in mounting casting 11. A valve 20 is mounted between the ports 16 and 17 to control the flow therethrough. When said valve is in the full line position shown in FIG. 1, the water will flow into the shower tube 10 through port 16, annular passage 12c and ports 12b. When the valve 2t) is in the dotted line position shown in FIG. 1, water will enter the other end of the shower tube through port 17, by-pass conduit 18, elbow 19 and port 11a. A cleaning plunger assembly designated as an entirety by the numeral 21 works within the shower tube 10 and has resilient sealing and cleaning member 21a surrounding the outer periphery of the central piston thereof. A pair of cushioning pistons 21b slightly smaller in diameter than the inside diameter of the shower tube and chambers formed in the ends thereof, are connected in longitudinally spaced relation to the center piston and cushion the ends of the plunger stroke during movement of the plunger back and forth within the shower tube.

A pair of drain ports 22. and 23 are provided in vertically spaced apart relation as best shown in FIG. 1. A

pair of drain control ports 24 and 25 are respectively controlled by valves 26 and 27 as illustrated. The valves 20 and 26 and 27 are all mounted on a single valve stem 28 which is mounted for vertical sliding movement through sealed guides 29 at the upper and lower portions thereof. The upper end of the stem 28 has an actuating piston 30 fixed thereto which works in peripherally sealed relation within a generally cylindrical housing 31. An upper port 31a is provided in the housing through which fluid under pressure can be injected to shift the piston 39 and valve assembly downwardly and a second port 31b is provided in the lower portion of the housing 31 to permit injecting fluid under pressure below the piston and thereby raise the valve assembly into the dotted position shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows a solenoid valve 32 of a conventional design wherein a spring urges the valving member into its normal position and a solenoid projects the valve into a second position when the same is energized. A timer 33 is provided for periodically energizing the winding of the solenoid to shift the valve element out of its normal position. A strainer 34 is connected to the pilot water supply line and filters solids from the water supplied to the valve 32 through conduit 35. The valve 32 normally supplies pilot water under pressure through conduit 36 to the top of the housing 31 through port 31a and normally urges the valve stem 28 downwardly into the full line position illustrated in FIG. 1. When the solenoid is energized as by the timer 33, the valve 32 is shifted to interconnect conduit 36 with drain conduit 37 and connect pressure supply line to valve shifting conduit 38, which is connected to the lower port 31b. This raises plunger 30 to elevate the valve stem 28 and shift the valves 29, 26 and 27 upwardly into the dotted line positions illustrated in FIG. 1. In the dotted positions of these respective valves, the port 17 will be open and the port 16 will be closed and the port 24 will be open while the port 25 will be closed. This will cause the shower water supply to flow into the by-pass conduit 18 and into the remote end of the shower tube 10 through port 11a thus applying pressure to the reverse side of the center cleaning piston of plunger assembly 21. The resilient sealing and cleaning element 21a which surrounds the center piston engages the inside surface of the shower tube and effectively cleans out all solid material accumulated on the inside of the nozzles 10a provided in the shower tube 10. The lead cushioning plunger 21]; travels down to the cushioning chamber defined within the end portion of the inner wallsection 12a and limits the speed with which the plunger assembly strikes the end of the chamber at the end of its stroke. As long as the solenoid is energized, the pilot piston 39 will remain in elevated position and the plunger assembly 21 will remain at the end of the shower tube adjacent the valve assembly. However, as soon as the timer 33 tie-energizes the solenoid the spring within the valve 32 will the same to shift back to its normal position thus causing the water pressure supplied through conduit 36 to shift pilot piston 30 back to its normal full line position shown in FIG. 1 which will cause the cleaning piston assembly 21 to move back to its normal position at the end of the shower tube remote from the valve assembly. As the cleaning plunger moves through the tube, the water on the other side of the center piston will be forced out of the cleaning tube first through drain port 22 and upon the return stroke of the plunger assembly 21, through drain port 23 thus permitting all of the solids removed from the shower nozzles to be carried out of the shower tube and into the waste drain.

The simplicity of the entire shower system makes the same extremely trouble free while producing positive and automatic cleaning of the shower tube. While it is true that the timer 33 and solenoid valve 32 are of conventional design, the combination of these two elements with the pressure responsive actuating piston 30 produces greatly improved results over all shower systems previously known in the art.

It will be seen that I have provided a simple yet highly efficient shower system particularly constructed for use with white Water showers in the paper making industry and which will automatically maintain the shower in constantly operative condition by keeping all of the spray nozzles clear and free from obstruction.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangements and proportion of parts without departing from the scope of my invention, which generally stated, consists in the matter set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A white water shower system for papermaking machinery comprising an elongated shower tube having ports at both ends thereof and having a plurality of discharge spray openin s provided therein, a cleaning plunger mounted in close-fitting sliding relation within said tube; a bypass tube having one end connected to one of said ports; a valve housing defining a flow inlet chamber with a pair of axially aligned control openings disposed on opposite side thereof; a pair of drain outlet openings spaced from said control openings; a pair of flow passages defined by said housing arranged respectively intermediate said control openings and said drain openings, one of said passages communicating with the other port of said shower tube and the other of said passages communicating with the other end of said by-pass tube, all of said openings being axially aligned, a valve stem extending axially through said aligned openings and having a multiplicity of valves mounted thereon to control the direction of flow through said shower tube and said by-pass tube, said housing having a white water supply inlet communicating with said chamber, an actuating cylinder assembly axially aligned with said openings and having an actuating piston working therein, means for supplying fluid selectively to opposite sides of said piston to actuate said valve stem and selectively position said valves.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for supplying fluid to said piston include a filtered fresh water pressure supplying means.

3. The structure set forth in claim 2 wherein said means for supplying fluid to said piston include an electrically actuated valve member controlling the fresh water supply.

4. The structure set forth in claim 3 and timer means controlling the actuation of said electrically actuated valve.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,598,238 8/26 Brooks 239- 2,283,768 5/42 Schueler 239-ll6 2,829,005 4/58 Broughton 239l16 2,884,203 4/59 Broughton 239-416 2,923,272 2/60 Emmert 239l06 EVERETT \V. KIRBY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A WHITE WATER SHOWER SYSTEM FOR PAPERMAKING MACHINERY COMPRISING AN ELONGATED SHOWER TUBE HAVING PORTS AT BOTH ENDS THEREOF AND HAVING A PLURALITY OF DISCHARGE SPRAY OPENINGS PROVIDED THEREIN, A CLEANING PLUNGER MOUNTED IN CLOS-FITTING SLIDING RELATION WITHIN SAID TUBE; A BY-PASS TUBE HAVING ONE END CONNECTED TO ONE OF SAID PORTS; A VALVE HOUSING DEFINING A FLOW INLET CHAMBER WITH A PAIR OF AXIALLY ALIGNED; A PAIR OF DRAIN OUTLET OPENINGS OPPOSITE SIDE THEREOF; A PAIR OF DRAIN OUTLET OPENINGS SPACED FROM SAID CONTROL OPENINGS; A PAIR OF FLOW PASSAGES DEFINED BY SAID HOUSING ARRANGED RESPECTIVELY INTERMEDIATE SAID CONTROL OPENINGS AND SAID DRAIN OPENINGS, ONE OF SAID PASSAGES COMMUNICATING WITH THE OTHER PORT OF SAID SHOWER TUBE AND THE OTHER OF SAID PASSAGES COMMUNICATING WITH OTHER END OF SAID BY-PASS TUBE, ALL OF SAID OPENINGS BEING AXIALLY ALIGNED, A VALVE STEM EXTENDING AXIALLY THROUGH SAID ALIGNED OPENINGS AND HAVING A MULTIPLICITY OF VALVES MOUNTED THEREON TO CONTROL THE DIRECTION OF FLOW THROUGH SAID SHOWER TUBE AND SAID BY-PASS TUBE, SAID HOUSING HAVING A WHITE WATER SUPPLY INLET COMMUNICATING WITH SAID CHAMBER, AN ACTUATING CYLINDER ASSEMBLY AXIALLY ALIGNED WITH SAID OPENINGS AND HAVING AN ACTUATING PISTON WORKING THEREIN, MEANS FOR SUPPLYING FLUID SELECTIVELY TO OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID PISTON ACTUATE SAID VALVE STEM AND SELECTIVELY POSITION SAID VALVES. 